05 November 2022

Three Hitchcock Stories


  

I'll begin on a happy note: I received word a few weeks ago from Jackie Sherbow at Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine that one of my short stories, "Going the Distance," will be included in their Jan/Feb 2023 issue, coming out next month. More about that in a later post.

On that subject, I've been fortunate enough to have three other stories featured in AHMM already this year--the first time I've had three in one year at AH since, I think, 1999. And the strange thing is, these three stories are different in almost every way. (I think that kind of variety is one of the things that makes this magazine fun for readers and writers as well. It's like a box of chocolate mysteries: you never know what you're gonna get.)

The first of my three stories was "Mayhem at the Mini-Mart" (Jan/Feb 2022 issue). At 2300 words, it's the shortest story of mine that AHMM has published in a long time. It's not a whodunit, or even a real mystery--it's more of a straight crime story, about a violent and unforeseen event in the lives of two brothers on a fishing trip. The first half of the story takes place inside a vehicle and is almost entirely dialogue, and the last half is about an incident at a quick-stop gas station that's tied to something the two guys heard earlier on their truck's radio. It's a standalone story set in the rural South, it's told via the POV of one of the brothers, and it's different from most of my stories in that there are no female characters. (Well, there's one, a sister who's a partner in their small business, but she's only mentioned in passing.) One of the things that made this story so much fun to write is that movies and the love of movies play a vital part in the storyline, and the thing that saves the main characters' lives involves a well-known Hitchcock plot device called a MacGuffin (which probably made AHMM more receptive to the story). The original title was even "MacGuffins," but editor Linda Landrigan suggested a different title to make it easier to use in a cover illustration.

My second story at AHMM this year was "The Dollhouse" (May/June 2022), one of those whose title has a double meaning. This one is a whodunit, in fact it's two whodunits because it contains two separate mystery plots that are seemingly unconnected at first: one is a murder mystery and the other is an incident at a local high school. It's a bit more typical of my other recent stories in AHMM because it's the sixth installment of a series featuring southern sheriff Ray Douglas, his ex-lawyer girlfriend Jennifer Parker, and his deputy Cheryl Grubbs. (My upcoming story in the Jan/Feb 2023 issue is the seventh installment, and the eighth has been accepted at AHMM but so far has no publication date.) "The Dollhouse," which runs about 5200 words, is about the same length as most of my latest AH stories. It's told from the sheriff's POV and again contains a great deal of dialogue, mostly between him and his two crimesolving partners.


My third story, "The Donovan Gang" (Sep/Oct 2022) is different in a lot of ways. First and foremost, it's not present-day. It's sort of a whodunit Western set in 1907, in the Arizona Territory. Second, it mentions several real people from that time period, and actively involves another real person as a part of the plot. Third, almost the whole story happens inside a confined space: the interior of a stagecoach--which again gave me an opportunity for lots of talking between the characters. The six passengers are a preacher, an actress, a journalist, a lawman, a saloon girl, and a dentist--and there are another half-dozen minor players, some of them offscreen-only. The story is a standalone and is told from the young journalist's POV. Also, it's a fairly typical length, around 4100 words. The fact that it's set in the Old West isn't unusual for me--I love to write Westerns--but it is unusual for AHMM. Twist Phelan and I have agreed to call those "historicals with horses." 

One thing these three stories do have in common is that they're all told in first-person, which has always been the case in the series I mentioned but not in most of my standalones, which are usually third-person. These three are also all written in past tense, but those are the only kinds of stories I write. I don't mind reading present-tense stores, but I don't like to write them. (I'm actually not crazy about reading them either, but I've accepted it.)

As for upcoming stories at AHMM, I have three that have been accepted but not yet published. Two of them, as I said, are more installments of my Ray Douglas series and one is, believe it or not, a standalone science-fiction story. So yes, I can say from experience that Linda will certainly consider stories other than mysteries, so long as a crime is present in the plot, and in fact AH is one of only two respected mystery magazines (that I'm aware of) that are receptive to stories with paranormal elements. The other is Mystery Magazine. Remember that EQMM has been known to publish the occasional otherworldly tale but usually doesn't, and both Strand Magazine and Black Cat Mystery Magazine prefer undiluted crime stories.

For those of you who are writers, what's been your experience, with the kinds of stories you've had accepted and published at AHMM? Are they shorter? Longer? Series stories? Standalones? Do any of you stick to traditional mysteries? Has anyone had success with other genres there? And what kinds of stories have you most enjoyed reading at AHMM? How about the kinds of stories you submit to other markets? Is there any subject matter, like Covid, that you try to avoid completely? Inquiring (nosy) minds want to know. 

Meanwhile, thank you as always for stopping in at SleuthSayers. Keep writing and reading--and have a good November.


22 comments:

  1. I've had a number of AHMM stories published with fantasy elements, includingThe Crucial Game about a Stanley Cup cassette tape that takes one viewer back in time, and the recent The Bosky Dell, about a magic portal that tempts a disgruntled mid level writer.

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    1. Hey Janice. I'd forgotten that you had used time-travel, magic, etc., in past AHMM stories. I truly think readers--even mystery readers--like to see that kind of thing, now and then. Variety's good, in almost everything.

      Keep coming up with those great stories. Your stories and those of Eve Fisher are some of those I remember most, in past AH issues.

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  2. I've had multiple series stories set in Laskin, SD, a spy/thriller set in 1940s Vienna ("Miss West's First Case"), one with fantasy elements ("The End of the Path"), and quite a few stand-alones ("The Seven Day Itch" for one), and one western ("A Time to Mourn". Mixed bag. Keeps us on our toes, right?
    Oh, and I loved "Mayhem at the Mini-Mart"!

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    1. Eve, I think that kind of variety *does* keep us on our toes, as writers--series, standalones, mixed-genres, etc.--and it's also fun to dabble now and then in those different kinds of plots. I believe that's fun for readers as well. (Any one thing can get boring after a while.)

      Glad you liked "Mayhem"--that one was especially fun to write because I'm a movie nut and this story was full of that. Thanks for the thoughts!

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  3. I've had far fewer stories published at AHMM than you, John--only four. (You are an inspiration.) Two were whodunits, both of them contemporary, one with fantasy elements (Santa, fairies, etc.). One was a historical crime story (set in 1962). The last was a contemporary crime story. All written in past tense. Three were written in third person, one in first. The shortest was 3,900 words. The other three are in the 5,300- to 6,000-word length. I don't avoid anything when submitting. I just try to write the best story I can and cross my fingers. :)

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    1. Barb, you're probably writing less because you're doing so much editing, and some of it for GREAT anthologies. As for your stories, it's interesting to hear those stats, and encouraging to find that so many of us mystery writers have published cross-genre stories at AHMM. As for third person vs. first, I find myself writing more first-person stories lately, but it might be because I seem to be writing more series stories, and first-person seems to work better for me in those. But third is a great way to build suspense, so I still use it a lot.

      I too tend not to worry about breaking the "rules" with my stories. The only thing I steer clear of is excessive-sex-or-violence content, and I also try not to get TOO political, though sometimes that's hard. I agree with you: write the story the way you want to and see what happens. I actually have two stories coming up with pandemic-related content, and one of them'll be at AHMM.

      Thanks as always for the insight.

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  4. BTW, congratulations on 3 in a year! And thank you for the great compliment!

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    1. I'm serious, I still remember many of your stories, Eve, and have been lucky enough to be in a few issues alongside yours, over the years. As for 3 in one year, thank you--that surprised me because my AHMM stories are usually spaced out over a longer stretch. I just checked, and in 1999 I somehow had stories in the March, May, and June issues (3 in 4 months!?!), so I thought I was in high cotton, back then. (But it took almost a year before I had another one in the magazine.) Boy, all that was a long time ago.

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  5. Fun stuff. I've had 37 stories in AHMM. Two have fantasy elements. Four are historical. 19 can be described as funny, I think. 20 of them belong to series (mostly Shanks). They have accepted five more stories: including 2 Shanks and 2 I hope will start (two) new series.

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    1. Aargh. Blogger anonymized me. This is Robert Lopresti, as you can probably guess.

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    2. Quite a record--well done! I figured you'd have had more than four that were historical. Congrats on the upcoming stories there as well. I know you and I are similar in that we've had more stories in AHMM than in EQMM.

      I haven't mentioned my statistics, but (after checking) I see that of my 24 stories at AHMM, there's one fantasy, one Western, one SF, ten whodunits, and eight "series" stories. So I guess only several are what would be called cross-genre.

      Thanks as always!

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    3. As for your Aargh, I'm afraid Blogger anonymizes me a lot. I wind up having to switch to another browser and sign in there.

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  6. Varied is the word, John, and it's one of the things I like a lot about AHMM. In 2022, I've had one story published and two more accepted for AHMM. Two of them are mysteries in my Bruce Kohler series—one with a trans character, which is still a big deal in crime fiction, though not in speculative fiction—and the third is a historical adventure story that's almost 12,000 words. I just sent them a story with an urban fantasy element and am keeping my metaphorical fingers crossed. (I'll need my literal digits over the next 14 months.)

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    1. Liz, you always come to mind when I think of loyal AHMM writers. And yes, I know you've had a lot of different kinds of stories published there. Is that 12,000-word historical the longest story you've sold them? (One of mine, a detective story, ran 13K, which is by far the longest of mine that AHMM has accepted.)

      Good luck with the urban fantasy submission. Please keep me posted.

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    2. The longest sold and the best paid. :)

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  7. I had 3 stories published in AHMM back in 2007, 3 in 2009, and 4 IN 2016. For whatever reason, I was writing more back then. So far I'm trailing Rob considerably - 31 stories so far in AHMM. Well, now that my volunteering days are coming to a close, I'm going to have to up my writing game!

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    1. Four in one year is impressive for sure, Eve. Congratulations on that year and on the others also. And yes, you probably will have more time now, to write,

      I hate to say so, but I find myself submitting fewer stories to AHMM than I once did because of their loooooong response times, lately. I still submit stories there and I'm always thrilled if/when one's accepted, but it's often tempting to try stories first elsewhere because I know I can get an answer back in a fairly short time. Oh well . . .

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  8. I've read the first two, John, and enjoyed both. I also am not fond of present-tense stories; sometimes it takes me several minutes to settle into them. The stories of one English writer– I can't think of his name at the moment– could take mAe a hour nor so to find the rhythm.
    And I really, really like traditional mysteries. I like any story that makes me work a bit.
    Now I'm off to read a Sep-Oct story, John.

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    1. Thank you, Leigh. Hope you'll like the third one as well.

      I've finally managed to put aside my dislike for present-tense stories--but it's not my preference, and I suspect I'll never write a story using present tense. I like the "once upon a time" feeling that I get from past tense, the feeling of being told what happened, not what's happening. I can't help thinking that present tense should be reserved for jokes (a guy walks into a bar . . .).

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  9. Congrats on all this—and more ahead. I wanted to give a shout-out to "Mayhem at the Mini-Mart" specifically because I loved the structure of it and the efficiency too! Looking forward to more, of course!

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    1. Thanks so much! That story was fun to write, and I think one reason is that it *was* so short and tightly structured. Glad you liked it!

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